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Qualcomm Stadium needs $79.8 million in maintenance, repairs and improvements over the next seven years, according to a new report conducted for the city of San Diego.

The two-part study, obtained Friday by The San Diego Union-Tribune, says the city will continue to lose more than $10 million a year operating the stadium through 2020 regardless of whether the Chargers stay, get a new site in San Diego or leave the county.

In any of those three scenarios, the projected annual operating loss for San Diego is $10.6 million to $13.8 million through 2020, excluding bond debt payments and any maintenance or improvement work, according to the report.

The Chargers’ Qualcomm Stadium lease runs through 2020 and the team can break it each year by paying an early termination fee, currently about $24 million. The Chargers have sought a new stadium for nearly a decade and been in talks with Mayor Jerry Sanders for months to build a venue downtown east of Petco Park.

No specific proposal is expected to emerge any time soon, and competing Los Angeles developers are pursuing their own stadium, which one day could become an option for the Chargers.

After reviewing the report Friday, Chargers spokesman Mark Fabiani said city officials have tough choices ahead.

“We believe we’ve presented some better alternatives,” Fabiani said. “If people don’t want to pursue those alternatives, then obviously the city has to make decisions about what to do with the building, and the decisions will only get more difficult as the building gets older.”

Fabiani called the report, commissioned by the city for $184,000 last year, “the most extensive review of the deferred maintenance that’s ever been done.” He said the team hasn’t looked at that issue on its own for the past couple years. Over the past decade, deferred maintenance on the 44-year-old city-owned stadium has been estimated at $50 million.

Lawyer David Watson, the chairman of the city’s Citizens’ Task Force on Chargers Issues in 2002, called the new estimate “a very logical, reasonable assessment” but added, “I just don’t know if it’s going to make anyone happy.”

Any spending on the stadium would have to be weighed against other city needs at a time when Sanders has proposed halving hours of libraries, he added.

“If there was no question at all that the Chargers were going to stay then it might be worthwhile to put forth the effort to make all the repairs you’re talking about,” Watson said. “But if the Chargers leave, they (city officials) better have a plan to justify that.”

Sanders declined an interview request but a spokesman released a statement saying the mayor’s office is reviewing the latest recommendations.

Richard Rider, chairman of San Diego Tax Fighters and a longtime critic of sports team subsidies, said the city should make the Chargers cover costs of Qualcomm Stadium improvements — something Fabiani called a city responsibility.

Said Rider: “If they don’t think the renovation of the place makes sense and they’re not willing to guarantee it, then it’s probably not a good idea because what they’re saying implicitly is, ‘There’s a pretty good chance we’ll be leaving.’ ”

Fred Maas, who has been advising Sanders on the stadium issue, said reports like the new one on Qualcomm’s future tell him “we need to find some other solution.”

“The question is what should be done,” he said. “To make a choice, you have to have choices. … We’re fortunate the Chargers are hanging in there with us while we’re trying to figure out what to do.”

If the Chargers leave the stadium, the report says “the number of parking lot events (at the stadium) will increase in the years without an anchor tenant. … However, the estimated revenues generated by the additional parking lot events are not enough to offset the decline in revenues that will come with the loss of the anchor tenants and events in the stadium.”

The report was conducted by contractors AECOM and Magellan Consulting. AECOM bills itself as a global provider of professional technical and management support services, and has worked on other stadium projects across the nation. The city of Arlington, Texas, hired the company to evaluate the economic impact of the new stadium for the Dallas Cowboys.

Its work in San Diego came in response to a 2009 city audit that said the stadium had no formalized business plan and should aggressively pursue new revenue streams to offset its dependence on city hotel-room tax revenue.

The report did not address what to do with the stadium if the Chargers leave or if the city should build a new stadium for the team, though it is certain to become fodder in that ongoing issue. The stadium’s future has been in question as the Chargers pursue a new stadium with increased revenue-producing capacity.

If the Chargers leave San Diego County, the city would have to consider the viability of maintaining the stadium for San Diego State football games (six or seven home games per year), plus two bowl games in late December as its major tenants. In either case, the city could decide to sell the 166-acre Mission Valley site, redevelop it or lease it.

“It is important to note that Qualcomm Stadium operating at a loss is not a unique example of a major stadium with an NFL franchise operating at a deficit and receiving city funding,” the report said. “Many city-operated, NFL buildings receive some form of public funding on an annual basis.”

The stadium where the Oakland Raiders play, for instance, gets a $14 million annual subsidy. That of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gets about $3 million.

The report recommends the stadium improve its revenue through better leases with the Holiday and Poinsettia bowls, whose contracts with the city expired in December and are being negotiated. The report also recommends better ticket distribution deals, better pricing for use of its parking lot and improved marketing opportunities by networking with other stadiums around the country.

The report assessed the condition of the stadium and said nearly $80 million in maintenance and improvements were needed, including $18 million in mechanical issues, $17 million in site repairs — which includes the parking lot — and $12 million in plumbing. A new video display board would cost $9.6 million.

The report ranks the repairs in four categories according to priority. Of the $79.8 million in repairs and improvements needed, the report said $43.9 million were “Priority Two” items — defined as issues that may become critical concerns directly affecting the facility’s ability to remain operational if not addressed soon. Only $1,546 in electrical issues were deemed to be “mission critical” items — concerns that affect the stadium’s ability to remain operational.

The report estimated $30.2 million of the $79.8 million to be “short-term conditions” that are necessary for the facility to function but may not require immediate attention. The remainder — $5.7 million — was deemed to be “long-term requirements” which are likely to be require attention within five years, or would be considered enhancements to the facility.

The statement from Sanders’ office indicated this list wasn’t a surprise.

“It’s certainly no secret that Qualcomm Stadium is one of the oldest stadiums in the country and will consume an ever-increasing amount of taxpayer dollars to maintain it,” the statement reads. “That’s just one of the reasons we’re working with the Chargers to develop a multiuse sports complex proposal that we can present to the voters. … The proposal will, of course, take into account the financial implications of leaving Qualcomm Stadium and converting the site to other uses.”